


Cold Comfort

by Bluspirit92



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Children of Earth Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 17:43:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4230969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluspirit92/pseuds/Bluspirit92
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John finds Jack post Children of Earth and offers his own unique type of comfort, complete with insensitivity and emotional manipulation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Comfort

“Ianto died.” Jack just said one day, after almost a week of silence. There was no emotion in the statement, but for Jack, that was an emotion in itself. It wasn’t that detailed of an explanation, but it was enough.

“Sorry, who?” John asked, not looking up the pile of gears and wires he was fiddling with. He had heard and he knew who, but Jack needed to keep talking. 

“Ianto. Ianto Jones. You called him eye candy or something,” Jack explained, and there was a good amount of annoyance there now, “my boyfriend.”

“Oh, so he gets the posthumous boyfriend title now, huh?” John asked, with a little grin, looking at Jack now. It was the absolute worst thing he could have said, and they both knew it. 

John waited a second, expecting Jack to shout at him, punch him, even cry, just do something. But he shut down again, a sad and guilty look on his face as he looked down and turned back to his corner. 

John gritted his teeth a the step backward and kept quiet for a minute.

“Sorry,” he said, for the statement and the loss, even though he wasn’t really. He hadn’t known Ianto well, and what he had known,(how much Jack loved him) he was jealous of. But he was sure he used the right tone, the one people used at funerals. 

“No, you’re not,” Jack said with no anger in his voice, like he’d always expected that, and shook his head, a little ‘what can you do’ motion. 

“You know me so well,” John smiled at Jack, which earned him a flat look. At least there was eye contact now. 

“Okay, I can see I’m just going to have to have this conversation by myself. I can do that,” John said, making sure it was obvious to Jack how disappointed he was. 

There was no response from Jack, leaving a long pause. 

“Look, what do you need? I’m here for you,” he glared at Jack’s raised eyebrow, “don’t laugh. I mean it. Tell me what you need, I’ll help. But don’t say you need me to shut up. Because I know for a fact that’s not what you need.”

“How do you know that?’ Jack asked, and he sounded a little choked. And also a little angry.

“Cause I know you, Jack,” John resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

“No, you don’t,” Jack denied flatly. John actually rolled his eyes this time. 

“You know, lying is a much better look on me. Makes you look too pale,” 

Jack rolled his eyes right back. “And yet I still look better than you.”

“I thought I said stop lying?” John said, putting a little pout into his voice. He wasn’t actually hurt, but Jack’s mood was getting better, and he wanted to keep it that way. 

There was a pause. John cringed. He really needed to keep this going. 

“So, do you want to kill some things?” he suggested brightly. 

“No! I don’t want to kill someone!” Jack shouted, and John smiled at the anger. That was progress.

“I didn’t say someone, I said something. Come on, it’ll make you feel better,” John pleaded, knowing completely that Jack wouldn’t agree. 

Jack side-eyed him. “You are messed up, you know that?”

John grinned back. “And yet, you haven’t dumped me yet,”

And surprisingly, Jack smiled too. “I have dumped you. About, how long ago was it now?”

“What timeline are we talking? Cause for you almost 200 years. For me a little more than 10. And for the general world, a couple thousand years from now. Been a while for you,” Okay, maybe this topic wasn’t the best. It wasn’t Ianto or murder, but now John was bitter. 

“But I still remember and regret it clearly,”

“You regret it?” Here was some real emotion. It was an accident really, but regret meant Jack still cared, and that was huge.

“Yeah. Should’ve just walked out instead of giving you the speech. Would’ve avoided all the bullet holes.” Jack leaned away to avoid anymore of those bullet holes.

“Deserved it.” John said, good mood back, punching Jack in the arm. 

Jack raised an eyebrow. “All you did was rub in exactly why I was breaking up with you.”

“But it made me feel better.” 

“And gave me a couple gaping chest wounds.” Jack rubbed at his chest in memory. 

John smiled at Jack's annoyed expression. This was an improvement. A real conversation. And about something that could help both of them. “So a win win, basically,”


End file.
